Chagrin Falls: Veterans honored on Veteran's Day

CHAGRIN FALLS -- Veterans from all branches of the armed forces were honored Sunday morning in Triangle Park.

Chagrin Falls VFW Post 12067 and the Chagrin Valley Chamber of Commerce sponsored the event and members of the American Legion Post 383 served as the color guard.

Chagrin Falls Cub Scout Pack 241 led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. and the Master of Ceremonies was VFW Post 12067Commander Ralph Burr.

Giving the invocation wasChagrin Valley resident Aaron Fox, now 87. Fox was only 18 when he served with the Marines on Iwo Jima in World War II.

Fox, who headed the Fox & Associates advertising agency in Cleveland from 1952 until he retired in 1988, wrote and published his first book, "Gussie andLuther"this year.

Among the 46 veterans being honored were Chagrin Falls Fire Department Inspector Jim Alunni, a Navy reservist injured in Hit, Iraq, on Aug. 1, 2005. Alunni, 41, also a Chagrin Falls firefighter/EMT/paramedic, was known as "Doc" in Iraq as he served as a Marine company's medic.

Chagrin Falls Police Chief Jim Brosius was honored, having served in the U.S. Air Force 1964 to 1968 in Vietnam.

Also being honored was Ohio Supreme Court Justice-elect William O'Neill. O'Neill, 65,is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam.

O'Neill served ten years on the 11th District Court of Appeals from 1997 to 2007. He is a graduate of Ohio University, Cleveland Marshall College of Law and Huron School of Nursing. He also works as a pediatric nurse at Hillcrest Hospital.

In all, about 46 veterans were honored.

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day,first declared on Nov. 11, 1919, by President Woodrow Wilson. It honoredthe armistice (which occured on Nov. 11, 1918) as the Treaty of Versailles was signedbetween the Allies and Germany at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November, 1919.

With other wars having occured since WWI and more veteranswere to be honored for their service, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation June 1, 1954, that changed the name of the day to Veterans Day, to honor veterans of all wars.